


Past, Present, Parallel

by infiniteworld8



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Absent Parents, BAMF Chekov, BAMF Women, Chekov Has Hidden Talents, Chekov Has Secrects, Crazy, DON"T READ YOUR EYES MAY FALL OUT....Yes it's that bad, Enemies Within, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mind Control, My first Multichapter work, Not Beta Read, Romulan Plots, Spatial Anomalies, Temporal-Spatial Anomalies, The Narada Incident, Vulcan Plots, Vulcans being evil, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 13:00:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7362406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infiniteworld8/pseuds/infiniteworld8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A routine operation becomes a rescue mission. While conducting a planet-wide evacuation, the Enterprise Crew realizes all is not what it seems and the planet's inhabitants harbor a startling secret. Meanwhile, past and present problems arise and collide, threatening to destroy them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WTH am I posting this? I blame it on lack of sleep. This is my first multichap. It was originally published Nov 2012.  
> I cringe to think I am posting it now...maybe I just have high standards, it had a steady following on ffnet...and I wanted everything in one place so I'm posting here...I may edit some chaps as I go....no idea on that...weekly updates!
> 
> You'll notice this fic is basically Chekov centric....I am/was quite obsessed with him a few years ago and have several Chekov backstories I have yet to write...time to dust those plot bunnies off and have fun.
> 
> All chapters are written of course...and enjoy. (Also remember...this was my initial writing efforts...how I have grown.)

75 years [ago]

“The star is expected to supernova earlier than previously theorized, in approximately five hours, we will be able to collect the first readings.” The woman finished her recording and stood up; she glanced backwards,  feeling the familiar flicker in her mind as her husband approached. She wasn’t quite smiling--she was much too reserved for that, but her face held the gentle quiet look that she kept for him. “Are the children asleep?”

 “The last one fell asleep six minutes ago” her husband said, unlike her his face held the hint of a smile.

 “The star is very close to collapsing, I moved the ship to a distance beyond its blast radius. We should be able to collect preliminary readings before they awake.”

The man looked at her. His face did have a small smile now;. “Sometimes you are entirely too focused, Talar”. Rather than take offense at his words, she looked at him and said “Sinar, surely you are as curious to see what effect the simultaneous collapse of a dual star system  will have on the surrounding subspace as I am.” 

“While I am curious, I do not believe anybody could be more interested than you,” Sinar said, moving to the seat next to her and beginning to monitor the readings.

They sat like that for several minutes in companionable silence, each intent on their own work. Abruptly, Talar turned toward him. “I’m picking up readings that indicate a vessel, but there doesn’t appear to be a vessel”

Her husband leaned toward her console and glanced at the figures. Then he entered something at his own station.

“The readings are—" the rest of his words were cut off as they both saw a ship on the view screen seemingly appear out of nowhere. “Fascinating” Sinar said as his fingers raced across his console.

The ship hailed them; the Vulcans opened a channel. All that appeared was a message demanding that they lower there shields and prepared to be boarded, or they would be boarded forcibly. The two Vulcans quickly assessed the situation: the ship in front of them was of an unknown origin, the scans of the ship indicated that they had more than enough fire power to destroy the Vulcan’s small science vessel, and by the nature of there message it was obvious their intentions weren’t good. Vulcan’s science ship on the other hand, had a fair amount of shielding that allowed it to stand up to a myriad of space anomalies, but the weapon capability of the ship was almost negligible compared to the unknown vessel’s weapons, the only thing that both ships possessed at an equal level was speed. The Vulcans decided to flee. Sinar’s fingers skimmed over the console, as he plotted a course near to where the two stars were about to go nova. The sensors readings for both ships would be distorted by the energy output from the stars, and they would have a better chance of getting lost in the nebula that was near the stars.

.the unknown vessel fired on them, almost like it it’s crew knew the Vulcans plan “shields at 80%” Talar said holding onto her console to avoid being thrown out of her seat, as the ship rocked again.

2 minutes later there shields were, gone. The unknown vessel stopped firing; its presence loomed on the view screen like a bird that had sighted its prey. A siren rang out, Talar glanced at the screen. There was a hull breach, near the living quarters. Talar and Sinar both moved across the decks at a run as they left the small bridge. They still had time to get the children and escape in a shuttle. If the ship was pirates they would quite possibly leave the shuttle alone and focus on looting the ship, though they would find little to satisfy themselves.

They found their children in the corridor outside the quarters, in the distance they could hear the hiss as atmosphere escaped before it stopped abruptly, and the ship automatically sealed the area off,  their small son held the hand of his sister, both toddlers faces showed the fear that they were to young to have learned how to control. “We have to evacuate, the—“the rest of Talar’s words were cut out by the whine of a transporter beam, shapes materialized before them. Both Vulcans stared at the shapes that had coalesced before them. There were 4 people standing around them weapons pointed at them. The people looked like Vulcans their faces were the same faint green, their ears came to points. The only thing marring the image was the look of cruel delight on the face of one of the newcomers who stood before them.

The newly arrived man glanced at a woman standing behind him “take the children”. The woman moved forward and snatched the children roughly; She dragged them along as she walked away. Talar lunged forward as her daughter started to cry and found herself held back by her husband. “Quiet, Talar” Sinar said softly to her. He turned to look at the man, a clear look of anger on his face “what do you want with us?”

The man looked at him “with you nothing, it is your kids we want, we have plans for them”

“You will not do anything to them” Sinar said his voice rising angrily. Talar’s control finally broke and tears escaped her eyes.

“Do not worry they will be taken care of, If I was you. I would worry about myself” The man said smiling lazily at them. He glanced behind him. The children were out of sight. He gestured to the people standing behind the vulcans, and before Sinar or his wife could move, they had been grabbed and pulled away from each other; they were forced down to their knees. A man came up in the distance, he also looked like a Vulcan, he glanced at them, then at the man who was the leader and said “it’s done; I activated the self-destruct the timer was set for a 5-minute count down.”

 “It’s time to leave” the man said as he raised his weapon. 

“Who are you, why are you doing this? No true Vulcan would do this. “ Sinar asked as he struggled to get to his feet.

The man looked at him, and smiled. “ I grow tired of this pointless disourse, but since I woild hate for you to die with thinking ill of your _noble_ race..I’m not Vulcan," with that last comment the man raised his weapon and fired. Sinar fell to the deck his eyes wide, staring, lifeless.  Talar screamed both at the sight of her dead husband and the pain she felt. It was like her body had been ripped in two. Her mind was seared with agony. She knew why now many Vulcans died when the person they were bonded to died. She was barely aware of her surroundings and was only aware that she was dying when she felt a pain, and felt herself fall to the deck, the last thing she saw before her eyes closed and her body released its life was the man’s cruel face. She knew what he was now, a Ro--. The thought ended as she gasped and her eyes closed

XXXX XXXX

2 months after the Narada incident.

 “ This is one of the greatest opportunities that the empire will ever see” The sub commander said looking at the council arrayed before him, “ are we really going to sit around like cowardly old fools and let this chance go to waste” the man said slamming his fist down on the table. The commander regarded his irate subordinate with a cool countenance

“Karaj, just because we do not jump on every opportunity, like an animal in heat it doesn’t mean that we are cowardly old fools” the man said his voice silky as he watched his subordinate’s face colour at the insult. “Fierceness, boldness are all to be valued but oftentimes subtlety, information, and cautiousness all have there place in war.”

The commander noticed that most of the council was uneasy at his words, the fierceness of their Romulan heritage making them cry out for blood. The commander could see that most of them were on Karaj’s side, and he felt a twinge of fury that he couldn’t kill the sub-commander outright. The sub-commanders family was too highly placed; they had the Praetor’s ear and were one of the favourites, well, as much as anybody could be a favourite of the labile ruler. Smoothing his face so that none of his emotions showed, while still fingering the knife at his belt, The commander sought to bring them over to his side with something that he did best, talking. The commander wasn’t that highly placed in the empire thru his military skill or the few scant connections that he had managed to cultivate before entering the military. Instead his status was directly related to his ability to turn people to his point of view through his carefully placed insinuations and skilful parlance. And as many who came against him in the past years had found out, a carefully placed word could mean all the difference between life and death.

Enjoying the challenge of turning the council to his ideas, the commander began to detail his plan, all the while carefully seeding little remainders of Karaj’s failed schemes and plans throughout. By the time he finished the council was seriously considering the commander’s proposition and Karaj’s face had gone a notable shade of green, his eyes filled with fury. The commander sat back with satisfaction, as the council debated among themselves concerning the feasibility of his plan, a smug hint of a smile crossed the commander’s face as he watched Karaj’s face. Let that be a lesson to the sub- commander, you could not go up against Commander Radak and win. Commander Radak turned away from his seething subordinate, as one of the council turned back to him, “ your plan out of all, that we have heard today, is one of the least  forward and impressive” the old women said her face her face impassive. Radak felt a flash of irritation at the council . _were they really such old fools that they went for the most superficially impressive plans, and lacked the appreciation for subtlety and deceit?_

“But” the woman continued “the Romulan Empire did not become great thru brashness and blind impulsivity, we know the value of careful preparation and subtle manoeuvres”

The commander inwardly was amused with the women’s words. Romulans were one of the most impulsive races in the galaxy and that was one of the reasons that the federation and even the almost but not quite  equally impulsive Klingons were greater then them in terms of power.

“ The council has voted and with the Praetor’s approval Commander Radak’s plan shall be implemented”  in his mind Commander Radak breathed a sigh of relief, finally he would have a chance for greatness, finally the Romulan empire could become the force it was meant to be. The Romulans would use all of the things that there Vulcan brothers had foregone, in pursuit of their misguided logic, to undermine one of the very institutions that Vulcans had helped build. The council woman’s next words echoed his sentiments so perfectly that Radak almost wondered whether she was one of the Vulcan transplants and had used telepathy. 

“The federation shall fall, and all of the galaxy shall kneel at our feet.”

XXXX XXXX

1 month later

“T’Kas, you, your brother and all the children like you were raised for a purpose” The man said. Looking at his daughter who stood before him, her waist length black hair neatly crowned on her head, the tunic she wore accentuating her pale greenish skin, her eyes that were so much like her mother’s.

“Yes, Father” girl said somewhat sullenly.

“It is normal to question some things, but you must not allow your questions to let you be led astray” he said firmly

“Do you know the story of how we came here?” the man asked his daughter.

The girl nodded.

“I will tell you again anyway, our ancestors left their home planet because they were not allowed to have freedom and were treated as outcasts for their ideals” The man continued his gaze fixed on his daughter “our ancestors believed that we were meant to be the greatest civilization in the galaxy that others should bow down before us and so they left to start a new civilization one that would allow us to expand to our full potential, and not make us weak slaves to reason.”

“we found this planet, and settled but in a few days we were nearly destroyed when the anomaly came and we were transported light-years across the galaxy, we thought that all was lost, but the empire that came was beneficent they helped us and we found out that we were brothers, and while they helped us we were able to help them, we found out that there goals were ours, and together we formulated a plan for conquest”

The man continued “and so you T’Kas and all your generation is the product of this plan, and you will usher in a time of greatness that shall last an eternity for our people.”

T’Kas looked at her father his face was filled with elation at the thought of his words coming to pass; his speech had almost made her feel that he was right. He was a charismatic speaker.  She could see how he had become the head regent of the planet.

“But father didn’t they kill some of our ancestors that didn’t agree with them, when they rescued us, isn’t there some evil in these actions”

“T’Kas your mother was one of them, was she evil? You are half of them, are you evil?” The man looked at his daughter, his face frowned “T’Kas you must rid yourself of doubts this plan is for the best of all of us and the rest of the galaxy, we must take our rightful place as rulers”


	2. Chapter 2

Present

“You’re being emotional”

Uhura angrily threw the dress down, glaring at Spock with all the ferociousness of a woman scorned.

“I’m being emotional!”

“I was merely saying that your body is not proportionate to your dress uniform anymore and that perhaps you should requisition another one” Spock said thoroughly bewildered why Uhura was acting the way she was.

“So you’re saying I’m fat” Uhura said angrily

“You’re not behaving logically, “Fat” is a subjective term, I was only implying that it would be more aesthetically pleasing if you requisitioned a larger-“Spock tried to say

“I don’t even know why I asked you” Uhura said breaking into tears.

“Uhura, I didn’t mean” Spock began moving toward her, startled by her abrupt mood change.

“You know what ,I’m late, I’m supposed to be helping lieutenant Musgrave, choose the food for her reception” she said her voice breaking,  tears streaming down her face and without another word she keyed the door open and left.

Spock stared after her wondering what was going on, Uhura had become increasingly emotional as of late and this just one of several increasingly frequent events where Uhura took something that he said out of context. Spock looked at the door which had shut behind her and considered going after her to apologize, but in the mood she was in she’d probably take offense at that. He sighed and decided to wait and until later, when she had calmed down somewhat.

Uhura met Musgrave in one of the Rec decks.  The Lieutenant was surrounded, by platters of food and as she approached Lieutenant Musgrave glanced up quickly  and  said “There you are”  she was about to turn back around when she took note of  her friend’s tear streaked face and asked “what happened?” Uhura told her and as she finished the lieutenant made a sympathetic sound before, saying “I don’t think he intended to insult you” she picked up a piece of cheese from one of the platters and popped it in her mouth; she chewed thoughtfully before, making a note on the clip board beside her. “You have to keep in mind what he considered fact, you considered insulting” Musgrave said

“At the moment it just seemed like he didn’t care, like he was deliberately insulting me” Uhura said dabbing her eyes with a tissue from the box that Musgrave had given Uhura, during her tearful retelling of the argument.

“Nyota, you and Spock are two different people there’s bound to be misunderstandings” Musgrave said soothingly “you’re blowing this out of proportion, I’m sure he didn’t mean to be insulting and you have gained a little weight.”

Uhura sighed and said “I guess you’re right, maybe I have been blowing things out of proportion.”

“Exactly” Musgrave said nodding as she sampled a piece of bluish-orange fruit.

“I’ve just have been feeling a little off lately” Uhura continued, picking up a piece of food from one of the platters and taking a bite without really paying attention to what she was eating.

“Well, when was your last physical?” Musgrave pulled the top off a dish of purple-black vegetables, allowing a strange sour odour to waft into the air.

“A few weeks ago “Uhura said glancing down at the slimy looking vegetables, the smell from the dish making her feel slightly sick and dizzy,

“ maybe you’re coming down with something” Musgrave picked up one of the vegetable slices and popped it in her mouth “ would you mind tasting one of these,  Havarii likes them but I don’t know if I want them on the menu.”

Uhura obligingly took a small bite of the purplish vegetable and chewed for a moment, before an odd look crossed her face and she pushed her chair back, with a muffled “I’m sorry” she nearly ran to the rec room bathroom, one hand clamped tightly over her mouth.

Musgrave, watched Uhura leave puzzled, then carefully reached down and picked up another slice of the vegetables and as she chewed thoughtfully said to no one in particular “hmm, I didn’t think they were _that_ bad”


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, Chekov wait up”

Chekov looked behind him and saw Ensign Leah Kelly, come up next to him, her curly brown hair bouncing behind her in a ponytail, her face lit up in a cheerful smile.

“Have you been avoiding me Pavel?” she said teasingly.

“I’ve just have been busy, vorking” he said.

“You cancelled yesterday, we were supposed to catch a Holovid,” Kelly said

“Something came up,” Chekov said glancing at her

“Well, I was thinking you want to go to the Rec Hall tonight, there’s supposed to be a concert, it’s Brunit, H’drak, and some others from the science department, but shouldn’t be to bad right?” she said.

“I don’t vant to go to a concert” Chekov said not looking at her.

“Well, how ‘bout a holovid?” Kelly said not picking up on his tone.

“Not tonight” he said glancing at her, wishing she would go away.

“I know what you’d like--“Kelly began exuberantly, her enthusiasm not dampened in the slightest by his repeated rejections of her ideas.

“You vant to know vhat, I’d really like” Chekov said angrily as he stopped walking and turned to face Ensign Kelly, his hands clenched into fists. “I’d like if you left me alone”

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” she said her smile fading, her face worried, bewildered and hurt at his words, her eyes looking at his tired appearance.

“You’re vhat’s vrong” he shouted furiously, clenching and unclenching his fists. He restrained himself with great difficulty.  He wanted to hit her. “You’re annoying! You’re pushy! You talk all the time! You can’t leave anybody alone, can’t you chust go avay?”

“Fine, if that’s what you want I’m gone” She said her words angry, but her eyes tearing up, as she turned on heel and almost ran back down the hall.

Chekov stared after her as his anger suddenly faded leaving a cold, empty feeling behind, he thought of going after her and apologizing. _What was wrong with him?_   He felt ashamed of his actions. Kelly was just being nice, he had met her a few months ago, other than him she was one of the youngest crewmembers, she wasn’t exactly his girlfriend, but they had lots of fun together and she didn’t deserve to be treated like that.  He slammed his fist into the wall, taking his anger out on the hard metal and was rewarded with a sharp throbbing sensation in his knuckles.

 “The cute young couple having some problems?” a sneering voice said behind him

Chekov spun around, recognizing Lieutenant Roth’s voice. The lieutenant was accompanied by one of his cronies, a Lieutenant   Penali; both crewmembers had taken to harassing Chekov whenever possible. Like several other crewmembers, they were angry that he had a bridge position and was much younger than any of them, and unlike some crew they were a lot more vocal about it.  Chekov angrily yelled a profanity-laced outburst at the two crew members, they waited until he was finished looking amusedly at his angry face and laughing, before they started.

“What’s the problem Chekov, Kelly finally decided to drop you for an actual adult?” Penali snickered.

“I’m totally available if, she finally decided to find somebody that can actually speak their W’s and V’s _vithout-_ “Lieutenant Roth began derisively, laughing as he poked Chekov in the chest. Penali snickered in appreciation.

They were used to Chekov walking away from there jibes, or maybe saying something back. Lieutenant Roth never saw it coming. Chekov’s blow landed solidly on the bridge of Roth’s nose, causing a sharp crack to sound. “What the-" Penali said quickly looking back and forth between Roth and Chekov with disbelief.

“You shouldn’t have done that” Roth said thickly dabbing at his bleeding nose with a sleeve, he nodded at Penali. Penali reached forward and before Chekov could do anything had grabbed Chekov’s arms and pinned them to his sides. “I’m going to enjoy this” Roth said smiling a cruel smile, before he slammed his fist into Chekov’s stomach. Penali held Chekov up as Roth slammed a blow into Chekov’s face.


	4. Chapter 4

_Joanna’s going to be in a piano recital and we got her a puppy, she’s been begging for one for weeks now ever since, one of her friends got one. He’s a cute, little cocker spaniel mix, and just the funniest little thing. The two of them tumbling around together is a sight to behold, but you can tell they really love each other…_

The rest of the message continued on in a similar fashion for several pages detailing what his daughter had been up to for the past several weeks. , his sister was definitely thorough. It was like in her message she sought to leave nothing out, the writing was so clear he could picture every facet.

_Of what he was missing out on._

He looked down at the letter missing his daughter he hadn’t seen her in a few months and the last time he had seen her she had been taller, older. She was growing up.

_She was growing up without him._

The pain he felt at that thought cut through him like a scalpel. He wondered was there a point where she wouldn’t even think of him anymore, where he would be a distant figure that she saw every once in a while, but that really didn’t have an impact on her. She still called him daddy and was always eager to see him. But at some point as she grew up would that change. Would she think he had abandoned her? Had he? He sent messages and even old fashioned letters as frequently as he could, they video messaged whenever possible, and he visited her whenever he had time off but was that enough. He missed his daughter, but he was torn, as much as he disliked gallivanting across the galaxy, in what amounted to a scrap of metal and plastic, he knew that if he left Starfleet and went back to Earth, he would fall back into his old habits. And when he was on Earth he hadn’t been there for Joanna anyway. He had been headed for a sure path to his own destruction.

It was probably better for Joanna to live with his sister and her husband, they would take care of her and give her a good life, she deserved a stable home, and she needed one. She didn’t need the pain or trouble that would come from living with him if he went back to Earth. When he was back in his old environment, he was an alcoholic and not a particularly nice one. When he drank, he knew that his personality changed for the worse and Joanna had caught the brunt of it several times. One of the worst memories of when he had taken his anger out on Joanna came back to him

_Someone one was shaking him; he opened his eyes, squinting at the light that poured into the room.  He blinked several times willing the blurry image to coalesce into a recognizable form. He finally made out the shape of his daughter standing there, her hair tousled , a tattered stuffed dog clutched under one arm, her blue pyjamas rumpled, sucking on a finger. She looked at him as he opened his eyes, her face intent “bweakfast Daddy?” she said uncertainly. McCoy felt a flash of irritation at being awakened what time was it?  He glanced at the screen on the wall 7 in the morning, why the hell did little kids wake up early?_

_“Bweakfast?, I’m hungry” she asked again,_

_“Fine let’s go” he said not too kindly. Grumbling to himself, he pulled himself off the couch where he had passed out the night before, his head spun dizzily for a moment as he stood up, he had a headache that made him feel like his head was in a vise. His mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, as the dizziness passed he made his way to the kitchen, he could here Joanna’s small unslippered feet following him. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed some eggs from the refrigerator he snatched a bowl off the counter and began scrambling them. Joanna had climbed up on a stool and was watching him. She sucked her finger for a moment, then said, “Mommy used a whisk.” He glanced at Joanna and said irritably “Well, I’m not Mommy!” He turned around to open the refrigerator and gave a sharp cry, as he stepped his foot on something that sent an excruciating pain through his foot. He knelt down to pick it up; it was one of Joanna’s toys. He swore loudly. “Are you okay daddy?”   Joanna asked from behind him. The girl’s voice irritated him further. He was thoroughly angry with being woken up this early and the whole situation._

_He turned around furiously, his foot throbbing painful, his headache even worse if that was possible. “What the hell is wrong with you? He threw the bowl of eggs down, yellow splatters flying across the small kitchen to adorn the walls and surfaces. He reached across and snatched the toy dog from her, and threw it in the disposal. “you don’t need any God damn toys if you can’t take care of them” How many times have I told you to pick your sh— up?” He said throwing the toy he had picked up off the floor on the counter where it shattered into several pieces. Joanna looked at him her face startled, and then she started to cry. McCoy looked down at the little girl and the physical pain he felt receded and was replaced by a deeper kind as he looked at the little girl and thought , what have I done?_

_He moved toward her, to pick her up but she backed up, tears still streaming down her face, sobs rending the air. He stopped moving as she backed into a corner and came to an abrupt stop, she had nowhere else left to go. He looked at her; the little girl’s face was afraid… afraid of him. “Please… Joanna I’m sorry” he knelt down to her level, only half-an arm’s length away.”I’m not mad at you okay, I just hurt my foot and I got angry and yelled” That wasn’t the entire truth his mind said he would have never acted like this if he was sober. He pushed the thought down.”I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I’m sorry” he waited there for a few moments looking at her, he wanted to move toward her, hold her pick her up, but he knew that if he did, she would bolt and he would frighten her more. And could you blame her, he had just acted like some drunk lunatic yelling at a little girl for basically no reason. She looked at him uncertain, fear still showing in her eyes, tears streaming down her face. He felt tears forming in his own eyes as he looked at his daughter. Hesitantly she came towards him, he reached and enfolded her in his arms, he buried her head in his shoulder, soaking his t-shirt with her tears. He stroked her hair and rubbed her back trying to soothe the little girl as he repeated over and over “I’m sorry Joanna, I’m sorry” He couldn’t believe what he had done. He hated hearing her cry._

_But he hated that he was the one who had made her cry more._

He clicked the message off as he remembered that time. The guilt he still felt over that incidence rose up in him, reminding him why he had given Joanna to his sister. He shut off the computer and stood up, his break was over. He walked out his office still angry with himself.

 _What was she doing?_ He looked at the nurse watching as she recalibrated the machine without shutting it down first _. How many times had he told her about that?_  He moved toward her, angrily and began yelling at her. At the end of his tirade the nurse looked up, her face quite close to tears, the entire sickbay was staring at him, he turned his back on her and went to the new diagnostic module they had received yesterday and began calibrating it.  He was not in a good mood.

XXXX XXXX

A few hours later Dr. McCoy was setting the new diagnostic module for the next patient when he heard the door hiss shut behind him. He turned around expecting to see the Edoan, that was his next patient and instead was surprised to see Chekov, standing there looking like he had been jumped on by a pack of dogs. Chekov had a black eye, numerous bruises on his face, a broken nose and a wrist that was obviously broken by the angle he was holding it at.

Dr. McCoy gasped at the sight of him and hurried around collecting medical supplies before coming to the head of the diagnostic bed which Chekov had sat on. The doctor ran a handheld diagnostic scanner over the young ensign while asking “what happened” Chekov who was normally happier (or at least acted like he was) than anybody on the ship, looked like he could kill somebody.

Chekov clenched his jaw tightly before replying “eet is nothing Doctor McCoy, I tripped and fell down a Jeffries tube” he paused for a moment then said as if he had repeated this or had it told to him a lot of times “I am wery clumsy”. Doctor McCoy looked down at the results of his scan, and then back at Chekov doubtfully, the ensign was avoiding his gaze.

“Chekov you didn’t get a broken nose, fractured wrist, broken ribs, and  a black eye from falling down a Jeffries tube. For god sakes, Jeffries tubes have force field barriers” Dr. McCoy continued irritated “What really happened? And don’t tell me next you tripped over your shoelaces”

Chekov stubbornly repeated “Doctor McCoy, I fell down a Jeffries tube, the force field vas not active”

1 hour later McCoy watched Chekov leave sickbay and sighed. Chekov had spent the last hour denying that his injuries were anything short of an accident, indeed he had even given Doctor McCoy the exact location of the Jeffries tube that he had fell down, Dr. McCoy had called engineering and found that a technician was repairing the force field malfunction, but despite all the evidence, Doctor McCoy still didn’t believe Chekov’s story. His gut was telling him that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just the injuries that gave Dr. McCoy pause; it was the total appearance of the ensign. Chekov, looked like had had been run through a wringer, he had dark circles under his eyes, that hinted at little sleep, and the rumour mill had been that the ensign had been unusually touchy even for an adolescent male. After finding no visceral trauma and running a diagnostic on the ensign (using his new model) he had and had cleared him to leave.

McCoy had briefly considered calling security to find out what had happened, but what was he going to say? That he thought Chekov was lying even though every bit of his story checked out and it was unlikely that any crewmembers would admit to having a fight anyway. Even if he did find out there had been an altercation Chekov and the other guilty parties would have that entered on their official records. Dr. McCoy shook his head, it probably wouldn’t do to get involved in this case, and it was probably over a girl or something anyway.

Later after McCoy had finished the crew physicals he had scheduled for that day he examined the in depth images that he had taken that day using his new module. He was still amazed at the way the new module allowed previous injuries from many years past to show as clear as day. McCoy scrolled through the images, stopping to take notes if he noticed an abnormality. He was nearly finished when, he stopped at one crewmembers full body image, there were injuries noted everywhere. McCoy sat up straighter and rubbed his eyes. How had he missed this? He glanced at the top of the screen, and noted with shock that the name was Pavel Andreivich Chekov.

How did Chekov have this much damage?  McCoy noted that the newest injury appeared to be about five years ago, but the ensign had injuries ranging from the time he was two and up. He called up a copy of the ensign’s previous scans, some of the injuries had shown up in previous scans, and Dr. McCoy remembered that Chekov had been in an air skimmer accident when he was 8.   Dr. McCoy had seen the marks still on his body from that accident, which the physicians in Russia hadn’t been able to heal without scarring, but some of these injuries didn’t appear in any of the previous scans. The doctor briefly considered that perhaps the new module was malfunctioning, but how was that possible? As far as he could tell the other crewmember’s scans had been correct. Dr. McCoy stood up and hurried out his office to the diagnostic module and began running a diagnostic on the machine, but all the systems checks came back in perfect working order. Dr. McCoy stood back and looked at it with a distasteful eye, this was what he got, as soon as he started liking the smallest piece of technology it stabbed you in the back.

Dr. McCoy considered asking Spock or somebody else to check out the machine , but something in his gut told him that the image he had seen was real, which could only mean one thing Pavel Chekov had some sort of disease. And judging from the ensign’s haggard appearance he looked like he was having a relapse. Dr. McCoy could think of half a dozen that left your bones that messed up, (Chekov had at least 10 different fractures a lot of them either before or after before the air skimmer accident.)

McCoy sat back in his chair bleary eyed from running over Chekov’s medical record surprisingly there was very little of it, he seemed extremely healthy on paper, but now having read it over several times it made very little sense, according to his medical records almost  every year he had suffered several injuries mostly fractures , but also lacerations. McCoy remembered Chekov’s earlier comment about how he was clumsy; perhaps the ensign had suffered an undiagnosed neuromuscular disease and was now suffering a relapse. McCoy wondered why the doctor’s at the academy hadn’t picked up that something was wrong. Then McCoy snorted at his own foolishness, that showed how tired he was, the doctors at the academy were mediocre at best, many incompetent at worst. Well, he mentally amended the thought, they could fix injuries, run tests, but most of them didn’t have what a doctor really needed: intuition. And Dr. McCoy’s intuition was telling him that something was definitely wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

_Beep!_ The sound of the door buzzer to his office jolted McCoy straight out of a sound sleep. _What the-_ he thought glancing dimly at the chronometer on the wall, it was late who was calling. He pulled a piece of paper off the side of his face from where it had stuck (Spock was always referring to the illogical waste). He jumped as the door buzzer rang again and sighed only one person, sans his nurses would do that if it wasn’t a medical emergency.

“Come in, Jim”, McCoy sighed wearily as the door slid open revealing James T. Kirk, who promptly walked into the room.

“Sure, have a seat” McCoy said sarcastically as Jim sat down without waiting for invitation. “Don’t mind that I haven’t had a wink of sleep and I’ve been staying up all night trying to figure out an image from that new diagnostic machine”

McCoy was surprised when Jim instead of replying with a quip of his own stared talking about something completely unrelated, well not exactly unrelated but Jim didn’t know that.

“Bones” Jim said looking at him seriously. “I need to know what’s going on with my main navigator” Jim saw Bones expression and said impatiently “Chekov,… the 17 year old”

“Jim, I know who the main navigator is what I don’t know is what you mean by what’s going on” Bones said somewhat irritatedly  “what is he showing weird symptoms? acting differently?”

“weird symptoms no” Jim said “ acting differently yes” he continued “ Spock informed me that for the pass two months, his efficiency scores have been falling, slowly but steadily, this started about 2 weeks after the Narada incident . it wouldn’t really be that significant , since his score is considerably higher than most of the bridge crew, but it’s like his temper has been extremely frayed, hell until recently I wouldn’t have even known the kid had one”. Jim shifted in his seat and ran a hand through his hair “ 4 days ago I was in one of the Rec halls , getting something  to eat and he was talking to the synthesizers and you know with that accent he’s got he was having quite a bit of trouble, anyway one of the engineering techs who was standing behind him laughed, Chekov turned around and if you can imagine he looked like he would have punched that tech right then and there if Spock hadn’t called him to the bridge at that moment” Jim paused, then continued “ it was weird… he just put his tray down  , smiled and walked away like nothing was wrong.”

“Well, Jim he’s an adolescent he’s prone to mood swings” Bones said evasively he wasn’t ready to share his diagnosis with Jim, not until he confronted Chekov, and he couldn’t really share anything anyway since he didn’t have a definitive diagnosis, just a hunch. “I swear sometimes I don’t know why they let 17 year-olds on a starship” Bones continued “this place is a serious institution, not high school”

Jim shook his head “Bones I don’t think this is something that can be explained away with adolescent angst, something is bothering him, today on the bridge I came on and he and Uhura were talking and I heard her ask him something about his accent “ she said something like “ I’ve been meaning to ask you what part of Russia are you from, it not exactly like your typical Russian accent, I can’t place it” or something like that, then for no reason he blew up in her face started saying something really angrily in Russian , then stormed off the bridge, he wasn’t on duty or I would have called him back, I don’t know what he said but he said something really bad because Uhura shaken up and she seemed preoccupied the rest of the day”

“ bones, I can’t have a kid with adolescent angst or whatever throwing of my bridge crew” Jim said “what if does this during a battle at a crucial moment , then were all dead, I was wondering if you knew what was going on, Uhura told me some of what he said  ‘ he said it’s not my fault, everything’s not my f--in fault’ he obviously can handle the normal pressure that comes with serving aboard a ship, but this is something else entirely, if he keeps up like this I’ll have to inform Starfleet .You now what that means.”

Bones knew. Starfleet would probably have him removed from the ship a black mark would go in his records. His career could very well be ruined. “Jim I’ll do my best and let you knows when I find out something” Bones said privately planning on confronting Chekov.

Jim nodded, then stood up and stretched glancing at the time, and with a “goodnight Bones” left, the door hissed shut behind him. Bones sighed he had his work cut out for him, it was hard enough treating adults without trying to get into a seventeen year-old’s head.

***

Silkar walked through the compound watching as the people hurried around making the preparations for the journey that would be undertaking in a few days, He noticed that most of them were glancing at him and then noticing his gaze quickly glancing away with frightened looks. Silkar looked at them and wondered what they were thinking.  Smiling to himself, he opened his mind to the disparate thoughts swirling around, breaking through the light shielding they had to penetrate their consciousnesses.

_He felt some of the females admiration and desire  for  him, and he  pushed himself at the outskirts of their minds revelling in their fantasies, he brushed over the fear the most of them had coursing through them at the thought of him, feeling pleasure with the power he had. In several minds he felt hatred and anger towards him, he pushed his way into those minds enjoying the pain he caused, he was careful to go just to the edge of their consciousness, just enough for them to know he was watching and to feel the brittle resistance that some of the stronger minds offered, before he crushed it, he penetrated their consciousnesses just enough to give them a taste of the searing agony that he could inflict if he chose,  then he withdrew. They had a part in the plan to fulfil, so he couldn’t offer them much more punishment…yet._

As he came back to himself, Silkar looked around taking pleasure in the fear in their eyes, the power was intoxicating they were his to do what he wanted to, and nobody was powerful enough to stop him. He cleared his face as his sister T’Kas came into the room, he knew that she disapproved of the “talents” he used, he knew she followed some of their grandfather’s weak ideals .She refused to totally accept that they were the rightful rulers, Silkar could tell, that while she would do nothing to stop there plan, she was not fully committed. Silkar felt fury that the old man had managed to contaminate her with his poisonous thoughts before he had been killed. He couldn't imagine how they could both have Solkar as there father. T'kas was so much unalike him. T’Kas just didn’t understand.

They had power, so they should use it.


	6. Chapter 6

_He was eight again, The boy’s arms encircled his little brother Pitir and his even younger sister Irina. They were hidden in the back of the closet but he could still hear the shouting and breaking glass, the boy heard his mother’s soft voice rising trying to calm his father down. Then the harsh drunken voice of his father shouting, he wanted to go out to protect his mother, but she had told him to take Irina and Pitir and go to the closet. Irina sniffled quietly, tears and snot running down her face and soaking into the boy’s shirt, Pitir was quiet his small hand clutched his brother’s arm tightly and the boy felt it tighten convulsively as the noise got louder and closer. He heard his father ask his mother  ”where are the kids, you don’t hide my own kids from me!” His mother said something to soft to hear and his father shouted an obscenity, the yelling started again in earnest, his father’s shouts laced liberally with invectives. His mother screamed and he couldn’t take it, he knew what he had to do._

_“Pitir, Irina stay here” he murmured disentangling them from him, standing up and , moving towards the door. he paused his hand on the door knob, he looked back into the gloom of the dark closet and said “don’t come out until I or Ma come to get you”_

_somewhere from the dark he heard his brother’s whispered Reply of “da”. Then he stepped out.  His father’s back was to him, so he didn’t see him at first, he moved away from the closet so his father wouldn’t know where he had come from. His mother who was standing in front of his father, moved to avoid a piece of glass that his father threw and saw Chekov standing there, her eyes widened as she silently pleaded with him to go back and hide. He could see a bruise forming on her face where his father had struck her and numerous cuts and bruises on her arms where she had tried to fend off his drunken blows. His father turned around to see who she was looking at and saw him standing there. “There you are” his father said slurring the words “where’s Irina and Pitir”._

_“Outside in the barn” he lied to his father._

_“Outside in the barn” his father repeated his face darkening with drunken anger. “You are the oldest damn it, you don’t leave them outside by themselves”._

_“I-I-I” the boy stuttered “was just feeding the cows and they wanted to watch so-“The boy’s words were cut off as a string of swearwords issued forth from his father_

_“you need to learn some responsibility you little sh--”His father moved toward him, his hand raised, his mother rushed forward and grabbed the arm to try to hold him back, his father jerked his arm free sending his mother backwards. His mother picked herself up of the floor, a thin stream of blood trickled down the side of her face where glass ha cut her._

_“Andrei, No he’s only eight!.”_

_His father turned to look at his mother a look of rage clearly evident on his face. “When I was eight I did more than him, I took care of things!” His father turned back to him “You need to learn things the hard way.” His father struck the boy across the jaw he felt something crack, the boy tasted blood in his mouth, his mother screamed his name, then he was falling and everything went dark._

_XXXX XXXX_

Chekov sat up straight a strangled scream coming from his lips, his bed sheets were soaked with cold sweat and twisted around him, he had been having nightmares every time he slept for weeks, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept well. He was thankful that his roommate wasn’t here to witness this. He had avoided sleeping whenever the other ensign was around, when after one night he had awakened both of them with his screams, some nights he claimed that he wasn’t tired and others he was with a girl. When in reality he had sat awake in a deserted corner of one of the Rec decks trying to stay awake to keep the nightmares from coming and the rush of memories that followed after, until he was too tired and succumbed to sleep. The dream was the last memory he had of his mother before she died. Nightmares of the day his mother had died alternated with memories of the failed attempt to transport Spock’s mother from Vulcan and the other times that people had died because of him.  The guilt gripped him tightly like a vise; memories rising up continually to recriminate him with the consequences of his failures.

He gripped the sheets tightly his knuckles white, trying to avoid remembering as image after image erupted in his mind, and bile filled his mouth. He barely succeeded in untangling himself from the damp sheets and making it to the toilet, before he was sick. Afterwards, he leaned back resting against the shower stall and let the cold metal soak into him, as the memories played themselves over in his head and his stomach dry heaved briefly, causing his mouth to fill with a bitter taste. He had thought about going to sickbay to get something to help, but that would have meant explaining why he needed it in the first place and he had no desire to relive any of this. He slowly picked himself up as his stomach settled, and walked on rubbery legs to the sink he turned on the cold water letting it run over his fingers, he looked in the mirror his face was gaunt, dark circles encircled his eyes, his eyes were rimmed red with tiredness, bruises still remained from his fight earlier. He was falling apart, ever since the Narada incident, something had been awakened in him that he thought he had put behind him. He splashed the cold water on his face trying to clear his mind of the guilt and shame that filled him.

XXXX XXXX

He was sitting on the edge of his bed; He looked at the bottle, running his fingertips around the rim and down the label. One of the engineering crew had given two bottles to him as a joke a few weeks ago, claiming all Russians liked Vodka even though he had told him he didn’t drink. Instead of throwing the bottles away he had kept them, tucked away in the back of the cabinets near his bed.  For the past few nights he had pulled one out, contemplating drinking it until he was no longer plagued by the memories that haunted him and collapsed into a dreamless oblivion. While one part saw it as his escape the other, the other saw it as a prison that he wanted nothing to do with it. He wouldn’t become like his father. His hands trembled as he put it down but instead of throwing it into the disposal chute he found himself tucking it back in his hiding place. He looked at the chronometer on the wall and saw that in a few hours it would be time for his bridge shift, he was incredibly tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but dreaded what would happen if he did. Instead he pulled himself up and started putting the cabin to rights before his roommate came back from his shift. The sour stench of guilt and shame still permeated the air.

 


	7. Chapter 7

15 years ago

The people that were gathered in the small room were mostly young. The older Vulcans refused to listen to his “blasphemous” teachings but he was tolerated because he was respected as one of the oldest Vulcans in the colony and because who his son was. The old man had always been interested in the old Vulcan ways more than other of the other colonists. On T’karis Surak’s teaching were regarded as weak, but Sulak, as the old man was called, believed that Surak’s teachings of logicalness and thinking over blind violence had given Vulcans the stability they needed to keep from destroying themselves. It still distressed Sulak to see how crime was present in the colony and the lack of control that the younger generations had. The group assembled before him was a prime example. Even though a significant portion of the colonists weren’t entirely Vulcan, it still was no excuse for the paltry control they exhibited. The older man turned his focus outward, looking at the crowd arrayed before him.

The noise level rose and fell, laughter broke out, and even small scuffles as the Vulcan youngsters tussled with each other. As he looked, he noticed the number of people in his group had fallen. He knew that his son Solkar had been telling the other Vulcans not to attend the group, and that his father’s teachings represented everything that the colonists were trying to leave in the past. Still, Solkar hadn’t entirely denounced the group because his two children T’Kas and Silkar attended the sessions. Sulak knew his grandson only came because his twin sister insisted on coming. Silkar disagreed with his grandfather’s talk of meditation and logic, but he had taken a startling interest in the techniques for mental skills that was somewhat disquieting. In addition to Silkar’s interest, to Sulak’s dismay he had detected a disturbing habit in his young grandson. The boy showed no respect for the sanctity of another’s mind; he thought that everybody should give him whatever he wanted, and he delighted in causing pain and showing power over others.  Despite numerous conversations with his son, Solkar refused to see anything wrong with his son’s behaviour. And privately Sulak was sure he encouraged it.

Sulak looked at the small figure of his grandson seated cross-legged., His black hair had fallen forward and his brow was furrowed with concentration. A few places away a boy was whispering to another child throwing glances at Silkar he did so, he said something to the other boy and then they both laughed. Solkar inwardly frowned at the two boys’ lack of control. However, he knew the children were only displaying an attitude to Silkar that was held by many of the colonists. Silkar was widely regarded as odd and though there were few people who would admit it: many feared the young boy.

Sulak saw his grandson’s face changing, an intense expression grew. Silkar turned and stared at the two boys. They didn’t notice his gaze and continued talking and laughing. Silkar glared at them, and then abruptly closed his eyes. One of the boys stopped talking, his face furrowed in pain, and then he screamed. His friend stared at him in shock. Silkar opened his eyes and gave a small smile at the sight of the boy screaming. The boy stopped screaming, green blood trickled from his nose. He looked around wildly, then he stiffened and fell over his body twitching and jerking, like he was having a seizure.

Sulak quickly moved toward the seizing boy, glancing at his grandson as he did so. Silkar showed no remorse and looked cruelly delighted with the results. Sulak kneeled next to the boy and pushed back the crowd of Vulcans that had gathered. They didn’t realize what had happened but Sulak did. Sulak touched the boy’s temple establishing a link; carefully he began repairing the damage Silkar had done. When he withdrew, the boy was still unconscious but lay quietly now. Sulak stood up aware of the crowd of people staring at him, ignoring their looks he gave orders for two people to take the boy to the infirmary.

As he turned away he saw, Silkar and his granddaughter, T’Kas, standing there. He could see by the way she looked at her brother that she knew what he had done. Silkar looked unapologetic and defiant.

Sulak continued the group as originally planned, but afterwards he caught his grandson alone. He admonished the boy severely for what he had done. Silkar stood there sullenly, then after an angry outburst walked away. Later a rumour spread throughout the colony that Sulak had mentally attacked the boy. Sulak knew who was responsible: his own grandson. It didn’t matter whether the rumour was the invention of a vengeful 10-year old who didn’t want to be reprimanded for his actions, it still was believed. Or at least many used it as an excuse to stop Sulak’s teachings. Solkar forbade his father to have anymore groups

Sulak defied his son’s orders and continued teaching in secret the few that still wanted to learn. He was gratified to see that his granddaughter T’Kas still remained in the group. Over the next few months he taught as much as he could , trying to instil in the young vulcans the ideals and philosophy he hadn’t been able to give his own children. He knew that his time was limited sooner or later he would be found out.

It was hard to remember his early life it had been so long ago, but he remembered being a few years old and taken from his parents, he knew that they had most likely been killed. But he wouldn’t allow them to have died in vain; even the prospect of his own death didn’t stop him from trying to save some of these young Vulcans from the principles that they had been embroiled in since birth. And with that goal in mind he hatched the plan that led to his downfall.

XXXX XXXX

Sulak was coming back from sending a message. He walked quickly down the hall hearing the distressed note in a young girl’s voice. He found Silkar standing next to a young Vulcan girl, clumsily trying to force her to mindmeld with him. He pulled his grandson away, shaking the boy as he did so, and the girl had gratefully ran away. Silkar jerked away from his grandfather’s grasp, and stared up with hatred at the man. Sulak began berating his grandson, “You are deviant, your behaviour is lower than any I have ever had the displeasure of seeing, the things you do are sick and evil, you do things no Vulcan would do”

His grandson snarled at him “I’m not a Vulcan!” then he turned and ran away.

An hour later the old man had returned to his quarters, he was seriously distressed by his grandson’s behaviour. _This was why he was risking everything with his plan, he couldn’t risk anyone else becoming like Silkar._ Sulak slowed changed into his meditation clothes ,then settled down on the stone his used for that purpose. He closed his eyes and was just beginning to enter the first stages of mediation, when the door sounded. He opened his eyes and said “enter”. To his surprise his grandson was standing there, instead of anger the boy expression was calm and strangely emotionless. Sulak inclined his head and greeted his grandson with the Vulcan greeting. Surprisingly the young boy returned the traditional greeting.

Silkar spoke “I have come to talk to you”

Sulak waited for the boy to continue and when he did his voice was even “You say I’m deviant, you dislike my power.” The boy straightened up as he talked “you say I’m not Vulcan.” He spat the last word like a curse. He stared at his grandfather, something darkly present in his young eyes “and I’m not!”

Sulak spoke this time “Silkar you may only be half-Vulcan, but you _are_ Vulcan you must embrace this part of your heritage and discard the negative practices encouraged by others.”

Silkar spoke “you mean my mother’s people? I’m not a traitor like you. I don’t seek to be a pacifist snivelling coward either. I will rule and the weak will fall.” He stepped closer to his grandfather until he was less than two arm’s length away. He said “I know what you’ve been doing”.

Sulak felt a small a flicker of apprehension, but said “What are you talking about?”

Silkar stared “I’m not stupid. I know you’ve been trying to contact the federation, through one of the empires’ traitors.”Silkar continued “You say I’m deviant, you think I’m a pervert. You say what I do is wrong. You’re the one who is wrong. You’re a traitor a traitor to your own people. It’s you that’s deviant.”

Sulak knew there was no use denying what he had been doing Silkar obviously knew. Watching the young boy carefully he began to explain what he had been doing. He finished with “I’ve been contacting someone for the good of us all. This colony is wrong and my actions whether they are wrong or not do not change the wrongness of yours”.

Silkar said angrily “I am not wrong! You are.”

Sulak shook his head “Silkar you have strayed far from the right path but there is still time, accept that you have been doing wrong and change.”

Silkar was trembling with rage at his grandfather’s words; suddenly he pulled out a disruptor and levelled it at Sulak. Silkar yelled “Take that back, I’m not wrong, Say I’m not wrong! Say it!”

Sulak stood up cautiously and shook his head refusing to acquiesce to his grandson’s request.

“Tell me! I’m not those things you called me. Tell me!” The disruptor trembled, the boy’s voice shook, tears ran down his face. “Say it” he yelled again.

Sulak spoke quietly “All those things I said about you were true, one can’t deny the truth. Silkar you can change, but you have to want to”

Silkar screamed at him “There’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t have to change, and I want you to admit that!;

“No” Silkar said simply.

Silkar stood there breathing heavily, staring at his grandfather. Then the disruptor went off; a beam of energy lanced out hitting Sulak in the chest. The older Vulcan looked surprised ,then crumpled to the ground. Silkar dropped the disruptor unable to believe what he had done; he stared with horror at the inert figure. “Grandfather” he said quietly, before he could move towards the old man, the doors opened and his father and several guards entered.

Solkar touched his son on the shoulder and said “He was a traitor and you got him to confess, you did your duty”

Silkar didn’t care about his father’s words; he stared at his grandfather watching as the guards moved his body and the head lolled limply. He asked “Is he dead?”

Solkar frowned at his son’s question but said “he’s not, merely injured.” Silkar looked away unable to watch as his grandfather was taken away and asked “What are you going to do with him?”

Solkar looked down at his son and Silkar saw a shred of remorse before it was covered by an icy expression. Solkar looked away and said “Silkar you know the penalty for treachery”

Silkar knew and it was enacted a few days later.

Silkar was setting up a game of 3-D chess, he had begged T’Kas to play. She was an awful player and in truth he made no effort to make her better. Often he liked to play against somebody that wasn’t challenging; the pleasure of utterly crushing an opponent was thrilling. He needed something to take his mind of what had been going on. He knew his Grandfather’s execution would be soon he just didn’t know when. He had gone that day to try to apologize to the old man, but Sulak had refused to speak ton him. In desperation Silkar had tried to force his way into the old man’s mind, trying to let him know he was sorry, and surprisingly he had let him in. Silkar had felt Sulak say _“you have never experienced the consequences of your actions; you must do so to learn.”_ Silkar had tried to draw some meaning from the old man’s words but he couldn’t understand what he had meant. As he had withdrew from Sulak’s mind he had felt stuck for a moment, then suddenly he pulled free.

Silkar had set up half the pieces when he felt it start. Silkar had always been more sensitive, than others and could sense things from much farther away. He knew without a doubt what was happening as a pain lanced through his body driving him to the floor. the chess pieces tumbled down around him. Screams started, his grandfathers’ screams. Silkar put his hands over his ears and huddled on the floor trying to blot out the sound, but he couldn’t because it was in his mind. He tried to close off his mind as he realized what was happening, but the thoughts and emotions easily cut through. A scream was heard again, this time it was in his mind and it was his own. As the pain intensified, Silkar hit his head repeatedly against the wall until blood ran into his eyes, he gripped his arms tightly his fingers biting into them, and he rocked back and forth. It was almost half-an hour before the sensations ceased abruptly. Silkar sat up; green blood was running down his face, his fingernails had pieces of his own flesh under them.

He knew why the feelings had ceased.

Silkar glanced upwards as he heard a sound. T’Kas was standing over him She said “Silkar?” She stared at his ruined appearance. Then he felt a gentle probe in his mind. His mind which was already raw and weakened with what he had experienced offered little resistance. Silkar saw her expression change to horror as she realized through his jumbled thoughts what had happened. Silkar stretched a bloody hand out to her pleading “T’Kas.”

She backed away from him horrified with what she had discovered in her his mind, then turned and ran not looking back.


	8. Chapter 8

Dr. McCoy’s glanced around the mess hall, his eyes searching for the ensign in the rush of crew eager to eat breakfast before their shifts started. He spotted him at a table tucked in the corner of the room alone, a mug of something in one hand while the other held a fork that picked half-heartedly at a plate of food. Dr. McCoy grabbed his own tray of food and wound his way through the early-morning crowd towards the ensign’s table. He placed his own heavily laden tray down on the table with a jolt, startling Chekov. “Mind if I sit here?”

Before the ensign could give his consent doctor McCoy had pulled out the chair and sat. Chekov eyed him warily, watching to see what the Doctor was planning. Dr. McCoy innocently sprinkled salt on his eggs and took a sip of coffee before speaking, “So, Chekov how is everything going?” Chekov who had obviously suspected something more intrusive was startled. “Um-fine” he mumbled, before taking a large gulp of whatever was in his mug, Dr. McCoy saw him make a face before swallowing and smelled the sharp pleasant aroma of coffee. _What was the ensign doing drinking coffee? He hated the stuff._ McCoy thought.

McCoy watched as Chekov took a bite of food and slowly chewed. The kid looked even worse than yesterday, his face was more tired than ever. Chekov stifled a yawn, and then scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. McCoy wondered what would be the best way to broach the subject of the ensign coming in for a check-up; he was saved from figuring out the answer, when Chekov looked up from his plate and said “vhat do you really vant vith me?”

 The doctor was about to falsely claim that he had simply wanted to talk to the ensign when Chekov cut him off, “You didn’t come sit here chust to talk to me”.

 McCoy rather than insult both their intelligence decided to go with the truth, “I think you have something wrong with you and I think you know what that is.”

 McCoy watched as the boy’s face turned pale. The fork he was holding in his hand dropped to the table with a clatter. Dr. McCoy pressed on, sure that he was on the right track, “I’d like you to come to sickbay so we can talk about it, you have about an hour before you have to report to the bridge”.

 Chekov opened his mouth to protest and Dr. McCoy leaned forward and softly said “Chekov, It’s going to come out anyway, please don’t make me have to order you”. Chekov looked at McCoy and nodded a look of dread present on his face.

XXXX XXXX

Chekov sat on the diagnostic bed watching as Dr. McCoy set the dials and recalibrated the monitors, and thought about what Dr. McCoy had said a few minutes earlier after they had arrived in sickbay. The Doctor was firmly convinced the Chekov had some sort of illness. Chekov had thought that the doctor knew about his past, they each were wrong, Chekov was tempted to laugh from the sheer absurdity of the whole situation, but resisted as the Doctor would probably have taken that for a sign of hysteria related to his impending “diagnosis”. The doctor would probably not even realize the reason for all the numerous injuries he had, no doctor ever had. They didn’t bother to ask the right questions, not that he would have answered them anyway.  The doctor finished setting the dials and said “I’m going to start the scan as soon as this is finished recalibrating, then I’ll run a few more tests and hopefully we should have an answer before the end of –.“ The rest of the doctor’s words were cut off as a voice rang out.

“Dr. McCoy, it’s engineering somebody managed to nearly amputate their leg, with a torch, they’re sending them up, and the captain wants to speak to you “.

“Damn it, Christine tell him I’m with a patient” McCoy said irritated.

“I already did sir, he still wants to talk to you” Christine said

Dr. McCoy looked at the monitors which were still cycling through figures and glanced at Chekov who was perched on the side of the bed “I’ll be right back” he said before walking off.

5-minutes later Dr. McCoy came back, grumbling about kid captains. The doctor told Chekov to lie back then commenced the scan and physical.

55 minutes later Dr. McCoy watched Chekov leave sickbay, he couldn’t understand what had just happened, the ensign had checked out perfectly healthy. The scan had came back negative for  all of the injuries that McCoy had noted the previous day, a second scan that McCoy had run refusing to believe the machine’s results had come back the same way. Blood tests, chem panels, it all had come back fairly normal, the only abnormality was that the ensign had high levels of stress hormones, and several of his vitamin levels were near the low end, but altogether he was fairly healthy. McCoy couldn’t understand how this could be. He had been so convinced that he was on the right track. Chekov had given the same excuses for his numerous old injuries as was listed in his medical records, various farm accidents,  and childhood injuries, but McCoy still believed that something was wrong with the ensign, and he would damn well find out what it was.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is shit, don't read it. I wrote it long ago and am posting it for archival purposes. I write 1000% better now, or so I think...blame my 19 year old self who was sooo excited for writing their first multichap...but since you've already read this far you probably won't heed my warning

Captain Kirk unsuccessfully tried to avoid a yawn, as he resisted the urge to get up and walk around the bridge for what would be the fifth time in the past hour.  The ship had been patrolling several light-years away from the Romulan neutral zone for almost a week and so far they had found nothing. According to Starfleet nothing was exactly what they were supposed to find, but then again Starfleet was never very forthcoming with information. The rumour mill of the fleet however said that they suspected Romulan involvement in a series of ship disappearances and spatial anomalies that had been noted recently. But so far the outcome of the _Enterprise’s_ exploration coincided more with Starfleet’s view of things then the fleet rumour mill.

“Captain I’m picking up a signal of some sort” Uhura frowned and  listened intently to her earpiece.

Kirk immediately straightened from his slouched posture, eager to finally have some excitement after the day’s long patrol.

“I can’t pinpoint the origin it seems to be coming from a sector of space where there’s no object” She said as she ran her fingers glided across her board, watching frequencies and translating

“There is an unknown spatial anomaly developing two light-minutes ahead of us” Spock said his eyes glued to his console.

“On view screen” Kirk said

The view screen blanked out from the regular view of stars to reveal a coruscating bluish-green mass washing across space.

“Several unstable subspace readings and incongruities are developing in the surrounding space” Spock continued “captain the phenomenon is accelerating outwards.”

“Mr. Sulu take us away warp 3” Kirk said

“Aye, captain” Sulu, keyed the order into his console and then twisted around as the ship refused to respond. “Warp drive isn’t responding, impulse isn’t working either”

“Keptain eet’s surrounding-“ Ensign Chekov’s voice was cut off as the ship rocked with enough force to throw more than one crewmember from their seat. On the view screen the centre of the anomaly seemed to bulge outward. The lights dimmed and flickered then cut out all together as the ship rocked again. Several cries of pain could be heard throughout the bridge; the emergency lights flickered on, red lights blinking on and off in the familiar sequence of a red alert as Kirk picked himself off the floor from where he had been thrown.

Kirk jabbed his hand on the console to his chair keying open a channel to engineering. He gripped his chair more tightly as the shipped rocked again, struggling to stay in his seat.

“Scotty what’s going on down there?” Kirk said hearing what sounded like explosions, and shouts in the background.

“ Uh- This is ensign--- Kinitz--- Captain..” panted and out of breath voice between gasps ,” Mr. Scott is trying to stop the -”

“ I’ll take that now lad” Scotty’s voice cut in breathlessly “captain the engines are down all of them—I dinna know how long it’ll be before I can get them on line again” The ship rocked again and the intercom cut out as the lights dimmed . Kirk released the comm button, not bothering to call engineering again.

“Captain I believe we are inside the anomaly. Readings are indicating that several objects are occupying the surrounding space , we are unable to send any transmissions outward beyond a approximately four light-years” Spock replied without turning around from his station.

“Are they ships?” Kirk asked they were close to the neutral zone, who knew what technology the Romulans had developed with Nero’s help.

“The sensors indicate planetary system” Spock, said even his Vulcan voice showing a slight hint of bewilderment.  “The anomaly is stabilizing” he reported as the ship’s motion started to lessen. He pressed something on his console and the viewscreen lit up to show a planet.

“A planet wide distress call is coming through” Uhura’s voice rang out. “They’re identifying themselves as the T’karis Colony.”

“I wasn’t aware that any colony had been established this close to the neutral zone “ Kirk said.

” There weren’t any colonies established this far out” Spock turned away from his console and said “The T’karis colony was the name of a group of Vulcan’s that left Vulcan almost 195 years ago” 

“Open a channel, Uhura “ Kirk ordered.

“This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, a federation star ship, state the nature of your emergency” Kirk stood up.

“They’re sending over a visual captain” Uhura said

“On view screen” he said

The image of a planet was replaced with the crackly image of a grim faced middle aged Vulcan. His face was covered in grime and green blood trickled down his face from a gash on his forehead; in the background people were hurrying back and forth carrying wounded people.

“Captain Kirk, I am Solkar , head regent of T’karis we are in dire need of aid. Our people have lived on this planet for almost two centuries trapped inside of a spatial anomaly which prevented us from communicating with the outside world or leaving space” The man coughed then continued. “The planet we are on is experiencing severe gravitational disturbances due to the dimensional shift and our scientists estimate that within three days it will no longer be able to support life, it is estimated that we have approximately 1.3 days before the rift recloses displacing this planet back into exile and dooming us all to death. We ask for your help in assisting us with evacuation.”

Kirk glanced back at his science officer for confirmation of the Vulcan’s words

“Computer projections extrapolate the planet’s inhabitants have approximately 2.12 standard days before the planet is unsuitable for life” Spock said glancing up from his science console.

 “Our ship has was damaged when we were caught in the dimensional rift but we will assist with the evacuation as much as possible” Kirk said


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again don't read this work...and I'm 100% serious...

The senior and bridge officers were in the ready room, discussing the evacuation of T’karis. Scotty was only giving the conversation half-his attention, as he monitored the progress on the engine repair on a data pad.

“ My preliminary readings of the anomaly indicate that it is a  piece of universe that is similar , but isolated and it experiences a periodic expansion and contraction approximately every 195.67 years, temporarily allowing it to interact with our universe ” Spock pressed a button and causing the holographic image in the middle of the table to change configuration  and continued speaking. ” I would postulate that  the anomaly pulls whatever is near it when it contracts into its gravitational field causing the object to occupy a congruent trajectory. The _Enterprise_  was near the anomaly at an inopportune time .”

“Could you speak god-damned English for the rest of us who lack the stiffness necessary to understand your Vulcan technical gibberish” McCoy said irritated, glaring at the Vulcan science officer.

Uhura stared angrily at the doctor and was about to open her mouth when somebody said. “Mr. Spock means that the anomaly is a pocket uniwerse that pulled the planet along vhen eet expanded into our uniwerse temporarily and eet pulled us into eet also.”

“Precisely, Mr. Chekov, simply put” Spock said

McCoy rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath sarcastically “well, why didn’t you just _simply_ say that at first.”

Spock ignored the doctor’s comments and continued “according to the sensors the planet T’karis is under severe gravitational stress, and will experience such an increase in gravitational stress that it will be unable to support life within approximately two days. Currently the planet is only marginally M-class.”

“The information they transmitted indicates that have around 1343 people on the planet. A small number of Vulcans factoring in population growth and the original number of Vulcans that left” Spock continued “However, we can’t possibly evacuate them all using the Enterprise. The logical plan would be to let them—“

“What the hell is wrong with you, you cold green-blooded bastard” McCoy said interrupting “you’re saying that we should leave the rest of your own race behind to d—“

Kirk, gave the doctor a sharp glare, and cut him off before he could say any more incendiary comments, noting the furious look Uhura was giving the doctor. “ Nobody’s suggesting that we leave them on the planet. According to the information they transmitted to Uhura, they have around 5 ships that were used to bring the original colonists to the planet. With our help they should be able to get a few of these operational.”

“I’m beaming down a group of crewmembers to help them out,” he continued.

“There’s a wee problem with that Captain and I’ve got some lads working on it” Scotty said glancing up from his data pad to join in the conversation. “but I canna make the transporters work correctly there’s too much activity by that anomaly. If I risk beaming anybody, they might be scrambled. Ye’ll have to use shuttles” he finished almost apologetically.

“The communications are also going to be a problem, we can’t get a consistent signal to the planet or them to us” Uhura added

“Similarly, Sensor readings of are  vague due to the interference of the anomaly. Our shuttle’s and the ships on the planet especially will have difficulty navigating, however it is possible that we may be able to devise a method of counteracting some of the interference.,” Spock said

“So we’re going into this mission severely crippled” Kirk summarized, not liking his options.

“Since we’re only going to be able to send a limited number of crew. Uhura we’re going to need you, so the communications have the best chance of getting through. Spock, you, Chekov, and some of the science crew can work on making the sensor arrays on the ships down there work so they can navigate. Dr. McCoy and a few of his staff can help stabilize the colonists and if Scotty can spare a few engineering crew they can help repair the ships.”  Kirk said reaching a decision.

The officers assembled nodded, and then as the meeting adjourned, they started off to their assigned duties to prepare for the mission. Kirk stopped Dr. McCoy before he could leave, and waited until everybody had left the room. “What was that a few minutes ago Bones?” Kirk said looking at his friend.

 “That was me trying to show that emotionless green, robot that being a soulless “logical” perfectionist, is a bunch of bullsh--“

Kirk cut him off before he could continue “what do you have against Spock?”

McCoy began angrily “I’ve got nothing against Spock; I’ve got a problem with his entire lying, cheating, rac-“McCoy broke off abruptly aware that he was saying too much.

“You don’t like Vulcans” Kirk summarized cutting to the heart of the matter. “and you don’t want to be down there on that planet taking care of them.”

“I have no problem taking care of anybody” McCoy said heatedly “I don’t like self-righteo-“

“I’m friends with both you and Spock I’m can’t to allow you to keep saying these things about Spock or Vulcans in my presence. ” Kirk said firmly cutting off the doctor’s newest rant of insults.

McCoy looked at Kirk, his face angry. “You don’t understand what—“

“I understand that your behaviour undermines ship authority and morale and Starfleet has a clear policy on Xenophobia” Kirk could see the words weren’t having an effect on McCoy so he continued. “Bones you’ve been there for me more times than I can count. Even when I didn’t deserve it, but Spock is my friend also. And even if he won’t admit it having somebody criticizing him and belittling him for everything he does, for some goddamn reason even I can’t figure out bothers him and more than that it bothers me.” McCoy was uncomfortable, he shifted his weight and looked away from Kirk.

“You don’t know Vulcans like I do. They are a bunch of heartless bastards, that will—“ McCoy began

Kirk cut him off “You don’t know them. I’ve known several Vulcans before Spock, one saved my life and --.” Kirk broke off thinking of the child in question and the circumstances of the event. McCoy watched as a litany of emotion crossed Kirk’s face.

 In a deadly serious voice the young captain continued. “Doctor, if you can’t keep your views to yourself. I will report you.”  Kirk added in response to the somewhat defiant look on McCoy’s face. “Understood?”

“Perfectly _captain_ ” McCoy said stiffly, and then he turned and walked out the room.

Kirk looked at McCoy’s retreating back as the doors to the ready room slid shut behind him. _Why did McCoy hate Vulcans so much?_  McCoy tended to wear his heart on his sleeve and Vulcans were a lot more reserved.  The two opposites presented by the doctor’s emotions and Vulcans emotionless behaviour created an opportunity for conflict, but not with the vehemence the McCoy showed. Kirk hoped that McCoy could get over whatever it was or at least avoid public displays of his hatred, or Kirk would be forced to do something he really didn’t want to do.  He would have to choose Spock or McCoy and either way he would lose an excellent officer and a friend. Kirk knocked his head against the wall and thought.

_At times like these he wished he wasn’t the Captain._


	11. Chapter 11

Uhura and Spock walked to the shuttle bay. Uhura was still furious at what McCoy had said. Spock glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as his felt through a ripple of fury run through her; he was surprised to feel it with such force. Even though they were not bonded mentally like many Vulcan couples were. The many mind melds they had shared had caused a link of sorts to form. Even so, he usually wasn’t able to sense more than the tiniest brush of sensations without opening his mind or physically touching her. He turned as he felt the emotion against more forceful this time. “Nyota” He began knowing what was bothering her. “What Dr. McCoy said while inaccurate and narrow-minded did not bother me—“

Nyota stopped, and turned to him “It may not have bothered you Spock, but it bothered me.”

She continued her face extremely angry, “that racist a—hole is one of the very reason why we can’t tell anybody that we’re married.”

Spock watched at her, privately thinking that Uhura comments while correct on one front were not encompassing the full scope of the problem. They had been married a few months ago, right before she graduated, and they had both agreed to not tell anybody. Their families didn’t even know. The reasons for the nondisclosure were several.

 Firstly , Uhura was several ranks below him.  Even with the promotion she had received there was a marked difference in their ranks and if somebody had found out Spock would have very likely been accused of favouritism ,especially in light of his changing Uhura’s assignment from a different ship to the _Enterprise_. The backlash would have damaged both their careers and could have led to a court-martial if authorities really pushed for it.

Secondly, even though Starfleet had a policy against Xenophobia there were many people that disapproved of fraternizing between humans and aliens. It didn’t matter that Spock was half human. If people found out they were married ,Dr. McCoy’s routine insults would look like child’s play compared to what some others would say and do. 

Even now when people just thought they were together, whispers and stares followed them. The Narada incident hadn’t done them any favours either, many people thought that Romulans and Vulcans were to close for comfort. Spock had heard more than one crew member express that the Planet Vulcan had deserved to be destroyed since the Romulans were a clear indicator that those “kind” of people were a ticking time bomb in the heart of the federation.

“Nyota, Dr. McCoy is only one—“ Spock began

She interrupted angrily “I know that you can look at everything logically but Dr. McCoy has no excuse for his behaviour.  He shouldn’t be allowed to continue with his sarcastic racist comments every few minutes …”

Spock let her vent and waited until she quieted somewhat, before he said “Uhura you should not let his remarks bother you.  He--“

“Spock, I can’t just let what he said go! So don’t ask me to” She said frowning indignantly up at him. Her face was furrowed with anger.

Spock glanced down at her; she was quite pretty, even when she was furious. Another wave of her anger rushed through him like a fiery tide, the sensation spreading throughout his body. The passion she was putting into her rant seared through them stirring up his own feelings, but they weren’t of anger.

 As she opened her mouth to say something else, Spock pulled her against him and kissed her. He felt her surprise for a moment tickle the back of his mind, and then she kissed him back.  He twined his fingers in her hair and let one hand stray to her temples. Carefully he probed her mind and she opened, allowing their consciousnesses to mingle. The awareness of where they were faded away for both of them.  Spock pulled away after several minutes and looked back down at her. She raised an eyebrow at him and said slightly out of breath “and if I ask you if you did that to shut me up, you’re going to say no? Right?”

He gave no answer, a slightly amused look was on his face that only she knew him well enough to detect.  She looked up at him still out of breath and hissed “You Hypocrite! you were telling me we shouldn’t show ‘displays of affection ’in public because somebody might see.” Spock still didn’t answer.  She sighed and said “well your distraction worked, at the moment McCoy doesn’t seem worth discussing”

“Precisely what I was trying to establish” Spock said “Now I suggest we get to the shuttle bay before somebody realizes we’re not there and comes looking for us, or before another you need another... distraction”

She looked at him for a moment then gave a small smile and slipped her hand into his and they continued on.


	12. Chapter 12

The crew for the away team that would assist in the evacuation was in the hangar deck preparing the equipment they needed.  Ensign Kelly was near one of the shuttles checking and triple checking that she had all the things, they would need. It was a worrying feeling to know that the transporter wouldn’t work, so that if anything happened there couldn’t be a quick beam up to safety or help couldn’t be beamed down. Kelly thought back to a time at Starfleet academy.

_It was after a particularly gruelling series of tests that she and her friends had decided to go to one of the fairs they were having in San Francisco that summer. After they had tried nearly every ride, her friends in a fit of silliness had coaxed her into going with them to a fortune teller.  The fortune teller was a small-red eyed alien woman, who had white tufts of hair, and long-yellow clawed fingers._

_The woman had told the fortune of Kelly’s two friends first. One would get married and never graduate from the academy; another would be promoted extremely quickly. The two cadet’s had laughed as their fortune’s were told, then it had been Kelly’s turn. Kelly held her hand out for the woman to read, as the alien ran a clawed finger down Kelly’s palm, the alien shuddered and pulled her hands away. “Are you sure you want to know your fate” the woman asked her face grave. Kelly’s two friends laughed and one of them said” of course she does”. Kelly wasn’t sure that she wanted to know, but she felt she had to know or she would always be wondering. She nodded for the woman to continue. The alien picked up her hand again, and her eyes focused solely on Kelly told her fortune_

_You shall graduate and find the one you love,_

_And on a faraway planet, you both shall die,_

_You in his arms,_

_Kelly’s two friends were shocked._

_“Why would you say that?_

_“That’s awful, come on Leah let’s leave”_

_The two girls scowled at the fortune teller as they tugged Kelly away._

_Kelly followed them out and laughed with them afterwards, she told herself it was stupid. But the woman’s words had come true one of her friends was married now and had a child. In the second year she had dropped out of Starfleet and now worked on a cargo freighter near one of the Martian colonies.  The other friend was already a lieutenant. The woman’s predictions had come true. For Kelly she hoped that the last part of the woman’s predictions wouldn’t come true because the first part already had. And every time she went on an away mission she wondered would it be her last._

_Stop thinking like that_ she chided herself _everything will be fine._ She took a deep breath to steady herself and went back to her equipment check. She had just finished checking her list for the 4 th time when a voice interrupted.

“Hey, Kelly”

She looked up irritably recognizing Lieutenant Roth’s voice.

he smiled at her, leaning against the shuttle, lazily, as he said  “ So their sending you down, huh?” He continued ignoring or maybe not recognizing her annoyed look “That’s nice I’ll be going down to” (Lieutenant Roth was security with a computer rating) “Somebody’s got to keep your pretty little self safe” he said reaching out to pat her on the head.

“Drop dead Roth!” she said ducking underneath his hand and pushing it out the way.

“Ooh, not a nice way to talk, I’m wounded”

“I mean it Roth get the hell out my way and go somewhere” she said

“Getting a little mad aren’t we, you and ensign Checkers still having problems” he said not moving. “He still _wery_ mad at you” He added in a mocking stage whisper.

“His name is Chekov, and you know what? it’s none of your business, okay, now leave me alone” She said angrily practically snarling at him.

“Feisty aren’t you, just what I like in my women” Roth continued unperturbed

“I’m not your woman you idiot! Now why don’t you go talk some of your lame lines with a girl who has nothing on her upper decks and maybe you’ll actually get somebody who falls for it.”

Roth turned a deep red at her words, he looked angry now.

“What’s that dumb a-- Russian got that I don’t huh?”

“Don’t talk about him like that”

“No, Kelly I want to know. Why do you want to be with that idiot who can’t even talk right and just barely got out of diapers? When you could be with me?” He said furiously “what’s he got Kelly, Huh?”

“How about this , he’s not a stupid oaf , that can’t take no for an answer, he cares more about me than how I look nude, and I love him okay, I love him.”

Roth looked at her his face twisted in an angry scowl

“You know he’s nothing right? He’s nothing and anybody with him is nothing also.” And with those words Roth stalked off.

Kelly looked after him thinking of what she had just said. She had just admitted to that oaf that she loved Chekov. He probably hadn’t heard what she said and was to focused on the insults pertaining to himself, and although the words had been angry and impulsive they were  true. She loved Chekov. She wasn’t even sure exactly why, there was something about him that was sincere, and nice. He wasn’t like the other males she had seen throughout the academy and Starfleet, always trying to show off or impress her so they could add her to their score card. And as much as she liked to think that she was prepared for anything and could handle herself, Chekov added that one extra note of security.  she always felt when she was with him she was safe. _I love him,_ the words had surprised her when she said them but they were true.

“Leah...Leah?” Kelly looked behind her and realized that somebody had called her name and more than once too. It was Chekov; she had forgotten that he was assigned to this mission also.

She saw him look at the angry look on her face, and then he looked at Lieutenant Roth, then back at her.

“He vas bothering you?”

“No, it’s fine” she began

Chekov hadn’t even waited for her to answer his question; he had already moved toward Roth a dark expression on his face. Kelly reached out and caught his arm, she grabbed it firmly. “Chekov its fine, I’m serious just – just let it go okay” She looked at him and could see he still wanted to go after Roth.

“Please Pavel”

He sighed “Okay I vill for you”

They stood there for a moment each looking at the other somewhat uncomfortably, unsure what to say next. Chekov broke the silence.

“Leah, I’m sorry for how I’ve been treating you lately”

“It’s okay. Pavel it’s fine, I’m-”

“No, eet’s not” he said shaking his head “Lately, I’ve been really—“ he broke off biting his lip, then continued “anyvay, vhat I’m saying is I shouldn’t be taking out stuff  on you, I don’t vant to be like my fa---“ he broke off again and glanced away then said quietly. “I don’t vant to be like that; I don’t vant to be that person”

“Pavel, it’s okay, I understand you’ve been kind of stressed lately and I am somewhat pushy and annoying” She had been determined to remain mad at him , but the guilty expression on his face washed away her anger.

“You’re not pushy and annoying” he said vehemently he paused, then asked ,his brow furrowed “so you’re not still mad at me?”

Kelly almost laughed at his forlorn expression. “Chekov, I was mad at your for a few hours, it’s been days now, I’m not still mad at you, I could never stay mad at you”

“Vell, in that case, ve could go for a holovid vhen ve get back” he said hopefully, his face brightening slightly.

“Is that a date Chekov?” she replied teasingly

He nodded.

“Then in that case, I’ll be there, you’re in charge of the snacks” she grinned. Chekov smiled back at her.   
“Now come on and help me get this equipment loaded before we get in trouble.” She grabbed some packs, he picked up a few and they walked off together.


	13. Chapter 13

The crew finished packing in a half an hour and boarded their assigned shuttles. Kelly along with Spock, Chekov,  Uhura, Havarii,a young female ensign named O’Connor and an engineering lieutenant Smith were all in one shuttle.

They had been in flight for almost half an hour. Under normal circumstances the journey to the planet would have only taken a few minutes at most, but the anomaly tended to distort  sensor readings making navigation incredibly hard , forcing the shuttle’s pilot to go at only a fraction of  normal speed. Also, the _Enterprise_ couldn’t move any closer to the planet due to the anomaly’s effect.

Kelly was just finishing the last words to a letter to her father. The letter was hard to write as all the letters had been over the past few years, especially the ones she sent never expecting a reply. After her mother had died, her father had fallen into a long depression, for years she had to take care of everything. She had no choice but to grow up fast.

Almost four and a half years ago, she had come in one night and announced that she was applying for Starfleet Academy. The announcement had woken her father out of the blank daze he spent most of his time in and he had spent the better part of two days trying to dissuade her from leaving. After seeing her mind wouldn’t be changed, he had coldly announced that if she left she was to never speak to him again. Kelly had been firm in her decision and had left that night. Shortly thereafter she was accepted into the academy. She had tried writing her father but had for years never received a reply. She didn’t entirely blame her father.  She knew that he had been heart broken when her mother Clara had died and was afraid of losing her too. After the Narada incident he had sent her a frantic e-message begging for forgiveness. Kelly had reread it repeatedly over the course of a day before she finally replied. Her and her father’s relationship still wasn’t mended and probably never would be but it was a start.

Kelly heard a soft murmur off to her side and looked at Chekov he had fallen asleep. She thought about waking him. They wouldn’t arrive at the planet for several minutes more, but he really wasn’t supposed to be asleep in-flight. He wouldn’t have been prepared if something happened and would probably get in trouble if anybody saw him.  She couldn’t bring herself to wake him, His face was quiet and calm, and he looked almost peaceful. And it was dim in the cabin interior, he wasn’t very noticeable. She would let him sleep a little longer than she would wake him up.

She looked out the window at the anomaly which twisted and turned outside the window. It was the colour of an aurora borealis; _The waves of light and energy were incredibly beautiful and potentially deadly._ She thought remembering how the anomaly had hauled a small planetary system and the _Enterprise_ along with it.

She turned as she felt someone scratch her hand, it was Chekov. She gasped sharply as he gripped her hand tightly the fingernails biting into her. He held it so tightly she feared he might break it. His face was tense, he moved restlessly, and then quieted for a moment. He said something that sounded like “Liska!” then he started moving again, this time he twitched and jerked. Abruptly he let go of her hand and now he was talking aloud. The words quiet but audible “Don’t I can” He strained against his harness, “Let me go!” he said louder. Kelly reached over and gently shook his shoulder “Chekov?” she said. She knew if she didn’t wake him soon, the entire shuttle would know whatever or whoever he was dreaming about.  She shook his shoulder harder this time and said “Chekov?”

Spock was coming up the aisle towards them. Kelly ,finally managed to wake Chekov up. His hand came up to grip her arm in an iron tight grip. He stared at her blankly for a moment, then let go noticing the back of her hand which has small scratches trickling blood. “Did I do that?” he said quietly.

Kelly turned her hands over so the cuts weren’t visible and have opened her mouth to lie when, her denial was cut off by “Mr. Chekov, you’re supposed to be awake we will reach the atmosphere of T’karis in about four minutes, with planet fall approximately 7.8 minutes later .“  Spock continued “If you are asleep you will not be adequately prepared.”

“It’s my fault sir, I didn’t wake him and—“  Kelly began.

Spock glanced at her and said “it’s not your responsibility to wake Mr. Chekov, his sleep patterns are his own affair, he should be able to keep himself awake”  He turned back to Chekov and said “do you understand Mr. Chekov?”

Chekov looked chastened and guilty as he said “aye, sir.”

Spock nodded curtly and turned away.

Kelly watched him go, feeling very irritated. It wasn’t that he had singled them out. Spock used his cold logical manner on everyone especially: "impressionable” junior subordinates, but he still irritated her to death. She turned back to Chekov, rubbing the cuts on her hand as they stung painfully.

“I’m sorry I didn’t wake you” Kelly said quietly

“Eet’s not you job, Mr. Spock’s right” Chekov said glancing at her.

“Are you okay Chekov, It look like you were having a really—" Kelly trailed off as his face turned red and she saw a mixture of intense anger and embarrassment flash across.

“I’m fine ,okay. I don’t vant to talk about eet” he turned away from her and stared out the window. She left him alone she recognized the mood from the other times she had awoken him. He would awaken furious, whether at her or somebody else she didn’t know.  She only knew that it was best to leave him alone.

 She wasn’t afraid of him. He had never laid a hand on her and the few times he had actually yelled at her he had apologized profusely afterwards. But she had seen him many times, his jaw tight, his fist clenching and unclenching as he restrained himself.  She would say something and he would walk away or hit the wall so hard sometimes his hand would have spilt skin and be bleeding. She stayed out of his way when he was like that, not for her own sake but for his. She knew a lot of his past and she knew that to him if he ever laid a hand on her he would have become what he worst feared. Kelly knew that if that happened Chekov wouldn’t forgive himself.


	14. Chapter 14

Minutes later the crew disembarked from the shuttles and looked around. They had taken three shuttles and had only brought as many crewmembers as could be taken up in a single trip by the shuttles. It was a small crew for the task they had before them.  A contingent of Vulcans was waiting inside the hangar deck of one of the main compounds to greet them. Spock recognized Solkar, the head of the T’karis colony. He was flanked by a young man and woman that bore a resemblance to him.

Spock raised his hand in the traditional Vulcan greeting, parting his finger in the familiar V-shape and he wondered would the man return it. After, Solkar had stated they were the T’karis colony; Spock had searched the computer banks for information on the colony. The computer had given an approximate date for when the colony had left Vulcan and had listed that the Colony ships they had left on had lost contact with Vulcan after a few months then was never heard from again.  The computer didn’t have the full story.

What the computer hadn’t mentioned was the T’karis colony was a group of individuals that most Vulcans knew of but never spoke of to outsiders. The future residents of the T’karis colony had left Vulcan after engaging in debauchery, wanton violence and refusing to follow Surak’s logic. They had intended to travel to different planets build an army and build an empire in which they were the rulers and the other races of the galaxy subjugates. Spock was mildly disturbed to see the Vulcans arrayed before him, looked just like Vulcans that he had seen on his home world. They appeared to proper to logical to have come from such irrational and violent forebears.

The man raised his hands in the salute Spock had offered, intoning the traditional Vulcan greeting, but as he did so Spock saw a slight hint of some emotion dart across the man’s face so quickly Spock was almost unsure he had saw it.

Solkar introduced the Vulcans behind him, as his head engineer, one of the colony’s doctor and various other departments. The woman and man standing next to him were his son, Silkar and his daughter, T’Kas, a scientist and doctor, respectively. The woman was beautiful, her raven-black hair was crowned around her head in two silky braids, her skin was a pale-green, and the gray tunic she wore clung appealingly. Spock stared at her for several moments, she was quite beautiful. As if she was aware she caught his gaze, and her eyes held his intently for a moment, like she was trying to give him a message. Then she looked away her face blank.  Spock was somewhat disquieted by the interaction, he looked at the Silkar.  Silkar was  a stark contrast to T’Kas, his face had a dark look about him, the impassive look that he wore seemed to hide a darker countenance, as Spock looked at him the man caught his eye and what could have only been a expression of malice flitted across the man’s face, then was quickly covered.

The man turned away, and Spock focused on what the middle-aged Vulcan was saying putting the slightly uneasy feeling he had out of his mind.

XXXX XXXX

“The ships were placed underground when we knew that the anomaly would return, to avoid as much damage as possible, even then with the shielding we were able to devise our computer systems were severely damaged and the engines are only barely reparable in time to evacuate” Solkar said as he led the crew down a series of circuitous passages.

Silkar, Spock, Chekov Uhura and several engineering and science crewmembers walked down a corridor. As they walked through the colony they could see evidence of the damage the anomaly had wrought. Chunks of the building had fell down half-blocking corridors, Vulcans carried wounded members to the infirmary, and others hurried back and forth preparing for the evacuation. The anomaly effects could still be felt, every few minutes, the ground under their feet would shake causing more than one crewmember to stumble and the lights would dim.  They travelled several hundred feet the passage way gradually sloping downward. The place was like a maze, the passages took twists and turns that would have confused a bloodhound.  They turned one last corner and the corridor opened onto a walkway. The walkway lined an enormous cavern that housed several ships.  The ships loomed largely above the crew, Spock could see they were the original colony ships the colonists must have came in. They were built in a style that was over 200 years old and most of the original components were still there.

Vulcans scurried over the hull and the quiet but urgent voices of the repair crews filled the air, mingled with the sound of falling rubble and tools being operated.

“This is one of three hangars…” Solkar explained as he led them around the ships. He continued explaining that each hangar was in a separate part of the compound and housed a part of the fleet. There were 5 colony ship’s total. Spock mentally admired the man’s logic by dividing the ships up. If a hangar was damaged they would still retain some of their fleet, but working on the ships the way they were situated would require dividing the crew. Logically, that was the only way they could complete the job, but something about the thought made Spock feel uneasy summoning his control he pushed down the feeling.

Solkar continued showing them the other hangars, and then Spock gave the crew their assignments. Spock, Uhura, and several other crewmembers were in one group.

The _Enterprise_ crew had dispersed throughout the ship each going to their assigned duties. Havarii was in the engine room of the colony ship along with Lieutenant Smith. O’Connor, Chekov, and Kelly were busy checking the life support systems. Various members of the colony were dispersed throughout the ship making repairs of their own as they all tried to get the ships ready for departure in the short time left.  The only people on the bridge of the ship were Spock, Uhura and Silkar. 

Uhura was busily working on a comm. console trying to link the communication equipment from the enterprise to the console in an effort to boost the signal and achieve a reliable channel.  Silkar watched her.

Once Solkar had given them a tour of the ship, he told his son to come along. After a brief conversation, Silkar had broken away from his father and Spock heard the words “I want to monitor things here”. Solkar had nodded but, Spock didn’t miss the look of disquiet that had crossed the older Vulcan’s face. Silkar came back saying the initial repairs would go better if they had somebody that was very familiar with the ship’s system, he claimed that few of the other Vulcans knew more about the ships then he had.

As he walked he told them his grandfather had been one of the main engineers responsible in making the over a hundred year old ship, modern enough for another journey through deep space. Silkar ended with the words “he always thought like a visionary” But instead of pride as he talked about his grandfather, Spock noted a hint of disdain in the younger Vulcans words. 

Now Spock watched Silkar closely, unbeknownst to him. Uhura was too focused on re-wiring the comm.-console to notice the attention she was getting. Half-her body was twisted under the panel, as she fixed the circuitry.

Silkar watched the lieutenant’s movements with a fascination that Spock found unpleasant to behold. Spock glared at the man. Silkar, almost as if he felt Spock gaze upon him, turned around and briefly looked at Spock, before returning to his work, his back to Uhura. The man’s face had been expressionless, but Spock illogically, irrationally, felt there was something indefinable unpleasant about the man.

Uhura inched out from beneath the panel and tugged her uniform down, brushing dust down off herself. Spock watched as she sat down at a console and began to work. Silkar continued working, he gave no indication that minutes ago he had been staring at Uhura. Spock still had the feeling that Silkar was up to something and whatever it was, it wasn’t good.


	15. Chapter 15

Dr. McCoy and the other medical staff had arrived in the infirmary. The staff immediately moved to help. McCoy saw T’Kas and the other Vulcans began directing the crew to various patients. McCoy didn’t move he just stood there, trying to summon the energy to help a people he utterly despised. Against his better judgement, he was drawn towards a whimpering baby. The child was clearly Vulcan, and the mother was also. She had the same stiff reserve, her face betrayed not the slightest hint of concern. As McCoy passed a scanner over the small child he thought angrily that for all the concern she was caring she might as well have just held the small infant out at arms length and said “fix it”. McCoy looked the baby over carefully and analyzed the results of his scan, then came to a conclusion. The little baby had a cold of some sort, not something that would harm the child, but definitely something that was irritating.

McCoy pulled out the right drug and gave the baby a hypospray. It quieted, then looked sleepy, and gurgled contently at him. As he pulled his hand away the baby reached a small hand upward and grasped his finger tightly in one of its small fists. Against his will McCoy felt something that was dangerously close to damaging his hardened exterior. He suppressed the feeling and pulled his finger away from the infant. He explained harshly what was wrong with the baby to the impassive mother, and then went onto anther patient, this time a young girl with a scalp laceration.

McCoy worked on the Vulcans for hours treating, and curing them, all the while doing his best to avoid thinking about what he was doing. As he worked, he started noticing something odd. A large percentage of the Vulcans in this colony had bloody types or tissue antibodies that were rarely found in the normal Vulcan population. The rest of the _Enterprise_ medical staff hadn’t noticed it, probably because their knowledge of Vulcan physiology wasn’t as extensive as his own. But he was almost an expert on the subject. After his wife’s deceitful betrayal, in between long hours spent intoxicated he had studied Vulcans obsessively. Know your enemy had been his motto.

He found the results strange, but one words suggested itself to him--inbreeding. He thought that’s exactly what these filthy aliens have probably been doing all these years. He set aside samples of his findings in a corner of the lab near an unused machine intending to come back later and store them away. He didn’t really know what he’d do with them exactly, perhaps use them in a research article or perform some experiments on them. As he walked away from dropping off another sample, an older Vulcan walked by and noticing the tubes, disks, data cubes, and tricorders littering the corner said “Why do you have all this?”

 McCoy shrugged looking at the woman with irritation. _Who was she that she thought he had to answer her._ The woman stared at him demanding an answer, and grudgingly he said “I was going to take a few samples back to my ship, your people have some rare blood types and such.” The woman nodded and said “What are you planning to do with the samples?”

He was extremely irritated now, but managed to remain civil with great difficulty. “I was going to study them, maybe write a paper or run some experiments.” The woman nodded, and then moved away. McCoy glared at her back, before moving on also.

He had been working for only a few minutes, when he heard what sounded like a small explosion from then other side of the infirmary. He finished what he was doing and went to see what had caused the noise. He found a Vulcan woman standing next the machine which he had placed his samples near. The machine had apparently exploded, destroying his work. The woman looked up as he approached and said “My regrets Doctor, I neglected to tell you that this machine is in need of repair, it appears your tricorder may have set it off in some way. My apologies for the destruction of your samples.”

McCoy turned on heel and walked away not bothering to answer. Her manner didn’t fool him one bit. He knew that Vulcan woman had probably destroyed his work, to foil him. Now, that she was about to be rescued she probably planned to steal his idea and present the resulting project at the next federation research council. He stormed through the infirmary, furious. This was just like deceitful, Vulcans, always taking what was other people’s.


End file.
